Salt Lake City is first jurisdiction to adopt new standards for off-site construction

The Salt Lake City Council recently voted to become the first jurisdiction to adopt new standards being developed for the effective use of off-site construction.

The International Code Council (ICC) and the Modular Building Institute (MBI) are developing the standards to promote best practices in modular construction. ICC/MBI Standard 1200: Standard for Off-Site Construction: Planning, Design, Fabrication, and Assembly and ICC/MBI Standard 1205: Standard for Off-Site Construction: Inspection and Regulatory Compliance provide minimum requirements for off-site and modular construction to safeguard public health, safety, and general welfare, and address the challenges posed by the need for local inspection and regulatory compliance, according to an ICC/MBI news release.

The standards are expected to be finalized in mid-2021.

“The lack of affordable housing is a crisis facing cities all over the country,” said Amy Fowler, the Salt Lake City Council Chair. “This would allow the city to include another stock of housing that can be quick, affordable, and attainable. It gives more flexibility in the construction process for modular buildings and helps remove one of the barriers to building tiny homes.”

New York City has two very large buildings dedicated to answering the 911 calls of its five boroughs. With more than 11 million emergency calls annually, it makes perfect sense. The second of these buildings, the Public Safety Answering Center II (PSAC II) is located on a nine-acre parcel of land in the Bronx. It’s an imposing 450,000 square-foot structure—a 240-foot-wide by 240-foot-tall cube. The gleaming aluminum cube risesthe equivalent of 24 stories from behind a grassy berm, projecting the unlikely impression that it might actually be floating. Like most visually striking structures, the building has drawn as much scorn as it has admiration.